


When It Comes Around

by Westgate (Harkpad)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Birthdays, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harkpad/pseuds/Westgate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's first five birthdays at SHIELD, and how Phil realizes that Clint celebrates Phil along with himself. By the time the sixth birthday comes around, their lives have been changed forever. Just a bit of fluff for Clint Barton's birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When It Comes Around

_The first time Clint’s birthday came around_ at SHIELD, Phil didn’t realize it. He didn’t even realize it when Clint showed up in his office, hair wet from a shower and in jeans and a t-shirt with ratty purple Converse. He didn’t realize it when Clint held out a small envelope and said, “Uh, I found this for you,” and then turned and left with his trademark half-smile and half-wave.

Phil opened the envelope and sucked in a sharp breath. There was a Captain America trading card there, one that he’d been looking for over several years. There was a scrap of paper in the envelope, too, and Clint’s lazy scrawl read, “Thanks for treating me like I’ve got something to contribute to this place.” Phil stared at it for a long time and then put the note back in the envelope and in his bottom desk drawer, with all of his most important files. He slipped the card into his scrapbook at home that night with a smile.

_The second time Clint’s birthday came around_ , Phil still didn’t realize it. He was busy standing in the corner of a hospital room watching Clint’s chest rise and fall with the help of a respirator. He clenched his arms tightly across his chest and ignored the ache in his legs from standing for several hours. Jasper found him there and pressed an envelope into his hands and forced him to sit in a chair.

“Barton asked me to give this to you today if he wasn’t around.” Jasper stole a glance at Clint and then back at Phil. “I figure he wanted you to have it today, you should have it today.”

Phil stared blankly at Jasper until he tapped Phil’s hand and said, “Open it.”

Phil did, and it was tickets to a Rangers’ opening game for the coming season.

There were two of them, and a note. “If we’re both around, we should go. Try to keep our calendars clear, okay, boss?”

Phil clenched the envelope until the doctors came in an hour later and said they thought Clint was going to pull through, and would Phil like a bed for himself brought into the room? He nodded and looked down at the envelope as if it held a winning lottery ticket.

_The third time Clint’s birthday came around_ , Phil knew it was coming, but he hadn’t put together that the previous two gifts Clint had given him were on the same day. Clint invited Phil over for dinner at his apartment and had the place spotlessly clean and a dinner laid out for them. Phil set a package down at Clint’s plate, and noticed an envelope at his own plate. He realized that this was a pattern just as Clint walked out with steaks for the plates and saw the gift.

Clint grinned at Phil and said, “You know what today is, then?”

Phil pulled the envelope on his plate open, and pair of vintage SHIELD cufflinks and another note slipped out. He looked up at Clint’s face and saw him biting his lip and looking down at his own gift. “Open yours,” Phil said as he unfolded the note from Clint. He read as Clint opened, and pulled in a shaky breath at the words.

“You’re as classic as it gets, Phil, and you hold me together. Thanks.”

He looked up and Clint was pulling out the small frame from his box, and his jaw dropped a fraction before he looked up quickly at Phil. “Where did you get this?” he whispered.

Phil shrugged and said, “There’s a place that collects old circus memorabilia down in the Village. I took a chance and stopped in a few times. Found it on the third try.”

It was a small post-card with Clint’s picture as The Amazing Hawkeye on the front. It was in mint condition.

Phil moved to Clint’s side and decided to take a chance. He reached out and brushed his hand down Clint’s cheek. “You’ve been getting me presents on your birthday,” he said gently. “Why?”

Clint didn’t answer right away. He put down his picture and stared at it on the table for a moment before looking up at Phil. “You’re the first person in a long time to see me for who I am,” he said, and he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Phil’s lips. “I never liked my birthday, until I met you. I figured celebrating what you do for me is a way to make it a good day instead of what it was, before.”

The steaks got cold.

_The fourth time Clint’s birthday came around_ , Clint was AWOL after being sent to kill The Black Widow. There were no envelopes and no boxes, and Phil spent the day trudging the sweltering streets of San Jose looking for signs of Clint and his supposed target. He found Clint bleeding from a bullet wound to the shoulder, but holding a gun to Phil’s chest making him swear that SHIELD would at least give her a chance. When they finally made it back to SHIELD, Clint slipped an envelope into Phil’s hand as Clint shut his door to his quarters to begin his suspension from duty.

Phil stood outside the closed door and stared at tickets to a birding tour of the city for a day next month and a note that read, “Walk with me and look at the beauty right under our noses. You seem to find it in everything, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble. Clint.” He closed his eyes and imagined Clint collapsing in his bed to find the new, plush purple pillows and bedding Phil had snuck in before they’d left on the mission.

_The fifth time Clint’s birthday came around_ , Phil and Clint both realized what they had going for them, so they agreed on a gift together. They ended up laying in a hammock together in Tanzania watching a sunset and drinking an umbrella drink. Clint reached down to the ground under the hammock and tossed an envelope on Phil’s chest. Phil looked up and blinked in surprise.

“Go ahead,” Clint said, and Phil heard a tension in his voice that definitely should not be with them in Tanzania. "Open it.”

Phil did, and something hard fell into his hand. He stared at it and then looked up at Clint, all sun-browned and tousled hair, wearing nothing but beige linen pants and staring at Phil with wet eyes.

“Clint?” Phil asked, and Clint nodded.

“Marry me, please,” he said, reaching over and placing the silver ring onto Phil’s finger. “You make every day the best day.”

Phil sucked in a deep breath and looked down at the ring and back to Clint’s kaleidoscope eyes. He nodded. “Okay. Yes. That sounds brilliant.” He leaned over and kissed Clint slowly, and tasted wine and hope and a future he never imagined.

Clint pulled back and grinned before he pressed his forehead to Phil’s and closed his eyes. “Best birthday, ever.”

Phil had to agree.


End file.
